THE future of Everton’s Academy Head of Recruitment Martin Waldron - father of Academy Director Joel - hangs in the balance after the club was found guilty of tapping up a former Cardiff City schoolboy in 2016.

A Fifa task force has proposed that clubs be limited to loaning six to eight players because the current system can result in “stockpiling” and “sometimes prevents young players from fully developing their talent”.

THREE of the England Under-16 team that beat Croatia last weekend - managing to do what their senior counterparts couldn’t at the World Cup a couple of weeks earlier - were products of Brentford's Academy.

HUDDERSFIELD are about to embark on a new and controversial era for their Academy. TGG went to speak to Academy manager Leigh Bromby and lead physical performance coach Paul Bower to find out exactly what's happening.

DEFENDER Declan Rice became the first teenager to feature for West Ham this season on the final day of their campaign - just 24 hours after co-owner David Gold had declared it would be “extremely unlikely” that a teenager would be able to break into the side.

After months of speculation, Monchi has finally been unveiled as Roma's new Sporting Director. The Spaniard has become an almost mystical figure after transforming Sevilla from Segunda División side to perennial European contenders.

On the face of it, New Zealand Technical Director is a thankless job: the country is rugby obsessed, its top players play thousands of miles away, and only half a World Cup place is available every four years. Andreas Heraf describes it as a “great gift” though.

LIVERPOOL have been banned from signing academy players from other clubs for at least a year after being found to have tapped up a 12-year-old Stoke City player and offered both him and his family inducements.

WE’VE long known about the star player. Then there was the star manager. Now we have a new phenomenon - the star sporting director - and none comes bigger than Sevilla’s Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo - or Monchi. Now the 48-year-old says he has offers to come to the Premier League this summer.

MANCHESTER UNITED have signed up to make their debut at the Youdan Trophy – the youth tournament set up by former ref Keith Hackett, who promises it will become “the most prestigious of its kind in Europe”.